The present invention relates generally to electrical measurement techniques, and more particularly to techniques for storing and retrieving probe-specific information on electrical measuring probes.
Obtaining electrical measurements from an electrical device requires at least some physical probing of the device nodes. As known in the art, all electrical probes introduce measurement error due to the intrinsic resistance, capacitance, and inductance of the probe itself. Knowledge of a probe's measurement error value is therefore essential in calculating the true measurement value of a measurement made by the probe. Factors that impact the measurement error of a probe (for example, the probe amplifier gain and probe resistance/capacitance/inductance values) may vary from probe to probe, and therefore even probes that are identical by design are subject to some slight variations relative to one another.
It would therefore be desirable to have a technique for obtaining the measurement error value specific to a given probe. It would also be desirable that such probe-specific measurement error value be static and easily accessible. In a broader sense, it would also be desirable to store probe-specific information on board the probe itself.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a probe and novel technique for storing and retrieving probe-specific information thereon.